When it comes to timely cancer early detection and diagnosis, the facts are clear: screenings save lives.

Cervical cancer, when caught and treated early, has a five-year survival rate of better than 90%. The survival numbers drop aggressively if it is caught later, highlighting the need for all patients to complete screening processes and not be deterred by costs that can quickly mount when insurance imposes cost sharing on follow-up tests.

We must remove the barriers to that follow up screening, and Senate Bill 451A is the Oregon Legislature’s opportunity to do just that. As the 2025 session draws to a close, however, it seems like it’s an opportunity they are in no hurry to take.

SB 451A is currently stuck in a procedural traffic jam.

Sponsored by Sen. Deb Patterson of Salem and Rep. Rob Nosse of Portland, it’s sitting in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means awaiting a hearing after passing out of the Senate Committee on Health Care with a “do pass” recommendation.

It is clearly a winning bill. It deserves daylight as patients should not have to pay out-of-pocket to get peace of mind about a condition as deadly as cancer.

SB 451A would make Oregon the first in the country to eliminate cost obstacles to early diagnosis of cervical cancer, potentially reducing the number of deaths from that disease. This year in Oregon, 8,770 are expected to die from all cancers and nearly 27,000 will be newly diagnosed.

The bill eliminates out-of-pocket costs for individuals with commercial insurance who need follow-up exams following an abnormal cervical cancer screening. While the Affordable Care Act requires no-cost coverage of the initial screening, insurance coverage for follow-up tests is highly variable and often with significant costs. The bill assures that more women will be able to complete the screening process and eliminate cost barriers to follow up tests recommended by their doctor. This is especially important with cervical cancer as screening can prevent cancer from developing, saving lives and money.

This bill aligns with previous legislation that removed out-of-pocket costs for follow-up tests for breast cancer. That bill assured patients with questionable findings on their initial mammogram could access additional screening without needing to let their other bills pile up or being forced to choose between the screenings and a month’s worth of groceries, as has happened to too many over the years.

Those at risk of cervical cancer deserve no less peace of mind.

SB 451A also addresses health disparities. Current out-of-pocket costs associated with testing for cervical abnormalities have a greater impact on people of color, resulting in delays in diagnosis and higher costs associated with eventual treatment.

Cervical cancer disproportionately affects people of color and low-income women, groups who historically face barriers to health care. The mortality rate from cervical cancer among African Americans is 50% higher than the rate of White women.

Hundreds of bills will wither in this committee this year, but SB 451A is too important to leave to that fate. It is critical that the bill be heard and considered and not be drowned in the committee backlog. This much-needed insurance reform deserves better than a grueling, administrative suffocation.

Members of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means should, at the very least, move the bill along so that the people of Oregon who need this legislation get a fair vote, up or down.

The lives lost in the delay is a reality all should be deeply uncomfortable with.

Jane Leo of Portland is the Oregon government relations director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.